The Truth Hurts, Lies Can Kill
by Zuppy116
Summary: Barry always thought that keeping his secret identity from his nephew was for the boy's own good, when an unexpected turn of events gets Wally kidnapped. All because of a little white lie... My take on how Wally found out about the Flash. Rated T just incase.
1. Chapter 1

**I've always loved the whole Wally/Barry dynamic and the father/son thing always made me tear up so I wrote a little story about how much comfort Wally always found in Flash, even when he didn't know who he was.**

**Warning: major Wally-whump ahead!**

oooOoooo

* * *

_"You worthless piece of shit!"_

Wally cried out in pain when a strong hand gave his thin body a violent shove, sending him down the basement stairs, the small twelve-year-old landing against the cold floor had first. Tears began raining down his freckled cheeks as the abuse done to his body made itself known. Wally vaguely heard a gruff snort above his head, followed by another kick to his already bruised stomach.

"Punks like you need to learn some discipline, I'll let you when you understand the severity of your crime! Am I understood boy?"The drunken man challenged loudly, completely ignorant of the boy's pain.

Wally nodded meekly, the small action causing a sharp sting in his sore head. "Y-yes, sir." He whimpered softly.

With a satisfied smile, his abuser stumped up the stairs and slammed the door close, leaving Wally alone in the darkness.

The man, Charles Malcolm, was a forty-year-old drunk with a criminal record and a matching mental disease to keep company. Apparently Charles had beaten his son to death about five years ago and being incapable to comprehend his own faults, he had started kidnapping boys around the age of ten from their families, trying to fix his past mistakes by morphing these victims to what he called 'the perfect son'.

Wally was boy number thirteen, or Ryan, as he was '_named_'.

He had never been so scared in his short life. Despite his unwavering faith to his uncle and favorite superhero, he was currently hidden away from the world by a psychopath who murdered kids who didn't appease his desires and expectations. Those kids hadn't lasted long, and Wally's days were on a countdown.

"It's okay, Uncle Barry is looking for me and so is Flash." Wally murmured to himself, taking deep breaths to calm his nerves like his uncle had instructed him to do every time when he was nearing a panic attack. After five minutes of heaved breaths, Wally shakily pushed himself to a sitting position.

A tiny wince escaped his lips when a dizzy yet a painful wave washed over his vision, the cold room resembling a big black blur. Wally supported his weight with shaking arms.

"Uncle Barry is coming, he won't leave me here, he's coming…" He convinced himself stubbornly though unable to hold a sob as his fractured leg twisted accidentally. Wally's cheeks were damp from tears and blood.

His surroundings slowly made more sense, green eyes picking up detail better than earlier.

The basement was crowded with boxes, bottles and some old clothes. A few pictures were lying around, ripped or burned, walls decorated with dozens of papers with names, addresses and markings. Wally also caught a picture of himself playing football with his uncle in the park, his aunt barely visible at the corner. He recognized some boys from the news, but there were plenty more pictures of them than him.

Wally turned quickly away from the masterpiece of insanity and death, spotting a couple of photos taken _after _the kidnapping. Hopelessness spread in his veins.

A suspicious pile at the furthest corner of the basement perked up his attention. Wally carefully slid down to his stomach, mindful of his injuries, and weakly crawled closer. The stack of rubbish turned out to be a collection of old toys. A teddybear, a puzzle, a few cars and crayons. The name Ryan was printed all over them.

Wally picked up the box of crayons tentatively and opened it, picking up two colors, pushing himself back to the center of the floor.

First he used the yellow to draw the straight lines on the right and repeated the same pattern to the left, coloring the lightning messily due his sluggish coordination. Wally drew a huge red circle about his size, using his hand to spread the color as the crayon was spend.

The temperature was downright freezing by the time he finished. Whatever had kept him conscious for so long was wearing thin and his traumatized mind demanded sleep.

Wally lay down at the center of the lightning bolt he had drawn, curling tightly to hug himself for any offered warmth.

He was cold, hurt and tired.

But for now he was safe.

oooOooo

* * *

oooOooo

Barry's day had started fairly nice and normal. It was his turn to rip his nephew form under the covers for school at seven in the morning, which he had. He enjoyed refreshing coffee with his family and listened as Iris discussed her oncoming day and checked Wally's homework for good measure. After a quick patrol, he switched from his Flash uniform to civvies and drove to work.

The routine day had been smashed to wall as he got a call from Wally's teacher who inquired why the kid hadn't shown up at school.

The twenty hours that followed were pure Hell.

Barry searched the city thoroughly, stayed in contact with the police and phoned Batman the first change he got, eventually even pulling Hal Jordan to the mix. It took Batman precisely a heartbeat to figure out the pattern and the mastermind behind Wally's disappearance.

Barry lost just about a decade of his life upon hearing the name from the com-link. Wally had never been so close to his alter- life that he had worked so hard to keep a secret, led to believe Barry's busy schedule being stuff like bowling nights with Hal or doing extra hours in the lab. In Wally's sheltered world, superheroes were a group of strange superhumans, and aliens, who saved lives and occasionally showed up on television.

Barry had done everything in his power to prevent Wally from ever entering that side of his reality, only to have it slammed to his face by a maniac who'd lose his lungs if he dared to harm a single red hair in the boy's head…

"Any leads, Batman?" Flash asked desperately for the twentieth time in the past two minutes, running another lap across downtown before taking a small break.

"_Nothing so far."_ The flat voice replied through the com clearly annoyed, the tiniest hint of apologetic tone evident. Barry's patience was wearing thin.

"How can you still have zero leads! Aren't you supposed to be the greatest detective in human history!?" He exclaimed in irritation. The Green Lantern soon landed right next to him.

"Flash, calm down. Bats is going the best he can." Hal tried to settle him with a comforting squeeze to his shoulder. In a messed up state of mind Barry pulled away from the touch.

"Well it isn't good enough! I-"Barry couldn't bring himself to finish the sentence, dangerously close of losing control of his emotions completely. How ironic that even with all of the power the speedforce had blessed him with, the fastest man alive had never been so helpless.

"We will find him, Barry." Hal assured determinedly, yet quietly enough for the crowd not to hear the mention of his civilian name. "We still have time."

"But for how long?" Barry challenged, feeling his courage abandon him. "You've read the reports, Hal. The other boys barely survived two days!"

"Wally is a smart kid and the strongest squirt I've met. He knows we're looking for him and he'll hang in there because he trusts us- trusts you, Barry. Wally won't give up on you so don't you dare give up on him!" Hal spoke in finality, forcing Barry to meet his masked eyes, posture presenting a very untypical commanding aura in the reckless hero.

The Flash nodded in answer, stunned by the authority, inwardly scolding his loss of hope. His dear nephew was counting on him and here he was, bawling in the streets like an infant while his kid was missing!

Straightening up and appearing much more in control than he had been two seconds ago, Flash sighed deeply.

"None of this would've happened if I had just told him the truth."

"Barry, don't start that, you know it's not true."

"It's because of this ridicules lie that he ran away in the first place."

Barry sadly reflected back to yesterday's chaotic argument between the boys in the Allen home. The Central City bank was being robbed by the Rouges again but this time with unidentified set of new villains with meta- abilities running around, shooting citizens with whatever mojo they had to offer, occupying Flash and the Central City police department for the following hours.

The red spandex wearing hero had an excuse for missing his nephew's science fair, but Barry Allen had no ace like that in his sleeve.

Several apologies, accuses and not too convincing lies later Wally had stormed out of the house for a walk.

And here they were.

"This was our fourth fight in two weeks, Hal, and it's always about the same damn thing," Barry croaked brokenly, broad shoulders sagging. "Why am I late every day, why do I keep breaking my promises or why do I come home bloodied or bruised…Wally knows I'm lying and he's scared. He's afraid the next time I walk out the front door, I won't come back, and that I'll leave him alone like his parents did."

Hal exhaled in defeat, fully understanding his friend's dilemma, sympathizing one hundred percent. Wally was intelligent for his age which was both a curse and a blessing. The bright side, the kid excelled his classes and superiors, earning a clean line of perfect scores. The downside, his not too bright daddy always wished an athlete to be born, not a science loving boy who had a hard time making friends. Hal had never felt an urge that great for committing a murder, than the second he had seen Wally's hospital records.

It was natural for a child who yearned for a proper loving father figure to freak out when the man arrived home way past curfew and often resembling a punching bag.

Words of solace stayed unsaid, the com-link online again.

"_I found him."_

oooOooo

* * *

oooOooo

Wally slowly, resisting the whole time, broke out of his blissful state of unconsciousness, returning to the cold world, feeling thousand times sicker. His eyelids seemed impossibly heavy and opening them might as well have been a marathon. His throat was dry- no, _burning_, his skin snow pale and ugly shade of blue wherever Wally had gotten hit or kicked.

The door was thrown open.

Wally was overtaken by frantic tremors of fear as Charles's bulky figure towered right above him, eyes glinting with a madly drunken daze. Charles glared at him, or to put it more specific, to what he had drawn.

Another kick.

"How dare you stain my floors with this garbage, boy!" The second kick was so rough Wally was pushed to his side, ribs wailing. "I feed you, dress you, raise you and this is what you pay me in return?!"

"Please, stop-"Wally begged between sobs. His kidnapper wasn't impressed.

Sneering, he repeated his actions. "I only accept the best from my son, Ryan! I didn't offer you a home just so you could disappoint me again! You're a failure- like all the others!"

Wally backed away in terror. Charles reached for his back-pocket, pulling out a freshly sharpened knife, blocking the exit from Wally's view, making escape impossible for him even he would be capable to do so.

The knife was raised higher.

_"Get away from him, you sick son of a bitch!"_

What happened next was a blur to Wally, whose brain connected the dots a blink too late. What he could tell however, was that the knife was ripped off and Charles's let out a pained grunt, falling to the floor unconscious.

Wally forgot his condition, eyes widening to the size of plaits at the new arrival.

"Flash?" He whispered in disbelief, sounding a lot younger. The worry was plainly visible in the hero's face despite the mask. The man crouched down to Wally's level.

"Are you okay, kid?"He asked, checking the boy for injuries, flinching at what he found.

"It hurts…" Wally gasped out hoarsely. The Flash edged closer. "Where does it hurt?" He didn't want to cause the kid any more unnecessary pain.

"E- everywhere."The boy managed to wheeze out. Squeezing his eyes shut, he registered too muscular hands pick him up bridal style in one quick motion.

"It's going to be okay kid, you hear me? You're safe now."Wally relaxed at the warmth and protection, falling to a light sleep, feeling the world shift strangely when Flash took off running, abandoning the hellish nightmare for the rest of their lives.

But not before Flash spotted the outlined lightning bolt on the floor.

oooOooo

* * *

oooOooo

Barry ran through the city and traffic to the nearest hospital, mind a whole new version of a mess, focusing on the one thing that kept him sane at the moment. Wally's pulse was strong, yet his body had never looked so fragile- which was why he had trusted Hal with the job of kicking the bastard abuser's ass to jail.

The worst-case- scenario played in his eyes repeatedly. Barry shuddered inwardly as the memory of the sharp knife aimed at Wally, the mere thought of what could've happened two seconds later…

Heart attack was the closest and most precise description he could think of to narrate how he reacted. Blinding anger followed.

Barry slowed down, calculating the distance briefly in his head. Wally's sleepy eyes peeked from under his eyelids just as Barry stopped in front of the hospital entrance.

"W-where am I?" The boy whispered half conscious.

"You're in the hospital now, kid. You're family will be here too anytime now." Barry said genuinely. His soft tone failed to ease Wally, wide awake and tense, gazing up at the Flash with a pleading look.

"No, no- please…I- I can't face my uncle! He'll be mad!" Wally broke in to desperate tears, tearing Barry's heart to pieces. His nephew was assumingly connecting the beating he got to the ones he had received as a small child, wearing that same expression on his face Barry remembered and hated from not too long ago.

Barry tenderly brushed the boy's hair to settle him, looking up to see a group of doctors hurrying their way over.

Knowing he didn't, ironically, have much time with the boy, Barry lifted Wally's chin so their eyes locked.

"I promise you, kid that no matter what your uncle will not be mad. He's happy and relieved that you're safe and sound. He loves you Wally- with all his heart," The Flash whispered, almost forgetting he still had the suite on and was letting his emotions show a little too much. On the bright side, Wally relaxed considerably but became nervous once again when he was taken from Flash's arms and lowered in the hands of a stranger.

"F-Flash!" Wally reached for him in fear as he was led away by a doctor who was too busy yelling orders to nurses to notice the boy's panic.

"It's going to be alright, Wally! I promise!" Barry yelled after him, glad that the mask covered his eyes that were beginning to fill up with unshed tears.

"_I promise_." He whispered to himself as he was left there in the lobby, alone.

oooOooo

* * *

**Well that was definitely depressing to write… but don't worry the ending will be happy**

**This is part 1/3, and I have the whole thing planned out but I simply don't have the time to update the last two chapters for awhile due my tight schedule, the reason I even managed to update this one was because I randomly wrote this ages ago and didn't finish until recently.**

**Anyways, I hoped you enjoyed this one enough to read the following chapters in the future Please, review and have a great week!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Finally I finished this! I feel so bad that it took so long, I'm so sorry, but here it is: part 2. Thank you for your patience and I hope you'll like it.**

**Thank you so much for the reviews:)**

**Enjoy!**

**PS: Sorry for the possible grammar errors, I tried to be meticulous but you never know**

oooOooo

* * *

oooOooo

Time had never passed so slow in Barry's life. Every second that groveled by felt like a decade to him and truly struggled to keep his speed from lashing out and vibrating through his seat. As annoying as it was, Barry had grown to endure the peeping that echoed from one of the multiple monitors.

The peeping meant nothing had changed. It meant that Wally was still alive.

Lifting his head from his hands, Barry turned to survey the damage done to his nephew, breaking his heart for the millionth time that day.

The paleness in the boy's skin rivaled the one of a corpse, the mere image alone making his mind torture itself by going through every tragic outcome, had the rescue been too late. The oxygen mask hid most of Wally's face, but the burrowed brows indicated he was in pain even when dreaming.

'_Why did this happen?_' was the same question he kept repeating to himself. His conscience offered the same answer as it had hours ago. _'Because of you! You made a promise that you couldn't keep and here's the result, congratulations!' _Barry would've given anything for a reset- button or a time machine. For anything that could've prevented the one mistake that had brought them all to this.

oooOooo

* * *

oooOooo

_Six years ago_…

_Barry hummed absentmindedly with the radio chorusing in the background and tapped his index finger against the wheel, mimicking poorly the drum-solo playing. He checked the GPS for directions, smiling as the amount of meters left was down to a hundred._

"_We're almost there," Barry notified to his wife, who had remained surprisingly quiet during the whole trip. Iris's lips quirked briefly before settling back to a frown, her newly manicured nails digging deep into to her arm rest. _

"_Great," Iris said off-handedly much to Barry's dismay. _

_They had gotten an invitation to join a West family dinner at Iris's parents house over a month ago, which had definitely roused feelings both positive and negative. Barry, for one, was exited to finally get to meet his wife's relatives and had spend the entire day talking about their trip while Iris had sat down on the kitchen stool and reread the letter at least twenty times as if to see it was real. When Barry had carefully addressed her for the perplexing behavior, Iris immediately changed her demeanor from silently horrified to falsely happy. Barry could still see the doubt in her eyes._

"_Honey, are you alright? You've been acting strange ever since we got that invitation," Barry remarked gently. Iris awoke from her trance._

"_What?" _

"_I asked if you were alright," Barry repeated, noticing how guarded his usually warm and welcoming lover was. Iris's lips pursed a bit. She brushed her neatly combed hair nervously and fiddled the hem of her shirt._

"_I'm fine," she answered softly. "I guess I'm just a bit agitated," she admitted, causing Barry to roll his eyes playfully. _

"_Just a little?" Barry smirked despite the pinch to his arm. Seeing that the small panic hadn't lessened, Barry tried again. "Why are you so worried all of a sudden? If anyone should be having a panic attack it should be me considering I'm about to meet my wife's family for the first time."_

_An unidentified emotion flashed in Iris's green eyes. "Let's just say we aren't all that close," she replied curtly. "My parents never understood my career choice and I haven't talked to my siblings in years."_

_Barry gave Iris an incredulous look. "So, you fought with your family over a career choice?"_

"_Amongst other things," Iris added without elaborating further, for the young couple had arrived, the West porch straight ahead. _

_Barry made a move to loosen his seatbelt when slender fingers curled around his wrist. The distressingly tight squeeze raised his blue eyes to meet hers. Iris struggled to find the right words._

"_Look, Barry-"Iris began, her chin lowering in shame. "My family is a bunch of very… opinioned people. Whatever it is that they say to you- don't… just don't take it too seriously, okay?" _

_Barry twisted his hand so he could rub the worried woman's knuckle with thumb soothingly. "Don't worry about me, babe. Besides, they can't be that bad."_

_oooOooo_

* * *

_oooOooo_

_Oh no, they weren't bad. They were horrible._

_An hour after entering the front door to greet the rest of the relatives, he had come to the conclusion that he would probably never meet another pack with such narrow-minded folks in his life. _

_He had barely managed to offer his hand to formally introduce himself to Iris's father when her mother had returned from the kitchen and attacked her daughter with accusations about being rudely late. Iris had remained passive throughout the woman's angry lecture and scolding, politely awaiting for her to stop talking before gesturing towards her husband to give Barry all the attention. _

_Lucky him._

_Barry repeated the same offer of a handshake, putting on his best parade smile. Iris's mother merely scrutinized him up and down like he was a piece of meat and pointed towards the couch._

"_Take a seat, dinner will be ready in thirty minutes," the lack of hospitality in her voice made Barry feel more like an intruder, rather than a guest. Sitting down, he noticed that each occupant in the room was giving him the same stare, or at least they appeared similar, as Iris's mother. The only exception was a tiny elderly woman in the background, who was sitting quietly on top of a wooden stool in the corner, eyes gazing blankly at the walls. _

_Iris cleared her throat, edging closer to her husband for moral support. "Everyone, this is my husband, Barry Allen," she announced shyly with a very uncharacteristic smile, almost hesitantly asking for permission… or approval. _

_A series of nods followed, when suddenly a snobbish looking woman who strongly resembled Iris, spoke up with a grin, eyes glinting with evil mischief. "So, our little chubby-Irey finally found a husband, huh?"_

_Iris's smile faltered at the strange nickname, but bravely answered back. "Yeah, I'm a lucky woman," she replied gloomily, turning to Barry. "This is my older sister, Tabitha." _

_The blond male gave the other woman a nod in acknowledgement but found it difficult to put any real friendliness in his gesture, taking a notice how uncomfortable she made his lover with a nickname he suspected had a very unpleasant story behind it._

_A brown-haired man who sat next to Tabitha, whom Barry suspected to be the woman's groom, fixed to position of his glasses, eyeing Barry critically._

"_So, Allen, what do you do for a living?" He asked in disdain. Barry inwardly face-palmed at the use of his last name. _

"_I work as a forensic scientist in Central City." The man's lips quirked up in amusement. Next to him, Iris glared at the man as he chuckled to himself, leaving everyone oblivious to his personal joke. From his comfy chair, even Iris's father scoffed at the man's childish antics but clearly seemed a bit smug himself. _

_Barry was beginning to think he served as some kind of a comic relief for these people. Iris rolled her eyes._

"_Dad, c'mon," she begged, sounding like a mother amongst a group of overgrown children. The elder man ignored his youngest all together. Tabitha's smirk widened at how little support her sister received, glancing at Barry._

"_So Barry, how did you two meet?" She said suspiciously conversationalist all of a sudden. Based on Iris's look, she knew where this was heading. _

_Innocently, Barry answered the question. "At a restaurant in downtown. Our orders accidentally got mixed up and…"_

_Tabitha lost interest fast and winked at Iris teasingly. "Wouldn't have happened to be a buffet, now would it? Our Iris over here always loved a good all-you-can-eat supply," she put just the right amount of pressure on her words to crack everyone up._

_Iris's cheeks turned red in humiliation as her family laughed over the sensitive topic. Wrapping a supporting arm around her waist, Barry gently messaged her side and brought her closer. _

_Iris him off hurriedly, embarrassed and still deeply hurt."I'm okay. She does that all the time," she whispered. _

'_No, it's not okay', Barry thought to himself and stood up from his spot on the couch, pulling Iris with him._

"_Sorry, everyone, but the driver needs a bathroom break. Honey, could you lead the way," Barry excused them both, giving Iris a pointed, conspiracy like look which she caught._

"_Sure," she said and squeezed his hand gratefully. Barry felt his breathing become easier once they exited the living room. Iris guided him upstairs and pulled him down the hallway, stopping at the last door and pushing him in._

_Barry glimpsed around, smiling fondly as he recognized it as Iris's old bedroom. The redheaded woman slumped on top of her childhood bed, sighing tiredly. Her eyes were glassy and shined with unshed tears, her lower lip trapped between her teeth._

"_What was that about?" Barry asked, sitting down and pulling her to his chest. Iris wiped her eyes, embarrassed, but gladly accepted the embrace._

"_When I was little I was seriously overweight. I ate when I was depressed and my family and their comments about it only kept the circle going. My doctor told me I'd have to start eating healthier , but it wasn't until I heard Tabitha gossip and laugh about it behind my back with her friends when my self-esteem hit the bottom," Iris swallowed a lump in the middle of her confession, taking a shuddery breath._

"_I exercised every change I had, left out junk food until I was almost eighteen and drowned myself into teen magazines and their articles about diets and supermodels. But even after I weighted as much as a skeleton my family still joked about my previous look, not bothering to think about what it meant to me."_

_Barry squeezed her closer protectively and kissed her temple, feeling utterly outraged how positively cruel and ignorant one's parents could be. He felt like the worst husband ever for allowing this to happen under his nose. Iris had appeared nothing but solemn and nervous since that damn invitation had been dropped to their mailbox which should've been a good enough sign. But instead, Barry had been too caught up on his daze to notice. _

"_Iris, I'm so sorry I dragged you here," Barry apologized from the bottom of his heart. Iris shook her head and gave Barry a gentle look, but couldn't force a smile just yet._

"_It's okay, Barry. You didn't do anything wrong, and besides, I know how much having a family has always meant to you."_

_It was Barry's turn to shake his head. "You're my family, Iris. These people wouldn't know the meaning of the word even if I'd carve it to their asses," he growled, earning a giggle from Iris who was surprised to hear her well-mannered husband use such language._

_Barry smiled at the small victory he had accomplished. "Let's get out of here," he whispered to her ear seductively. "I got the whole evening booked just for you. We could go to the movies, buy you a new necklace or go to that ridiculously expensive restaurant you've always wanted to try…" he trailed of and bent to place multiple kissed to Iris's neck._

_Iris hummed pleasantly, arching her neck to give better access. "Aren't you feeling surprisingly indulgent today," she teased. Barry smirked against her smooth skin proudly._

"_Is a man not allowed to spoil his beautiful wife every now and then?" He asked coyly as a finger brought itself below his chin and lifted it so blue eyes met green. Iris's green orbs were glinting with tears of joy, her thumb brushing his chin gently._

"_You have no idea how much I love you," she whispered. Barry placed his hand on top of the one that cupped his chin, pecking it adoringly._

"_I love you too," Barry answered, convinced that he could sat the same sentence a thousand times more but it still wouldn't be enough to express his absolute adoration towards this goddess among women. _

_Barry didn't think he had any more room in his heart to love someone else the way he did Iris._

_Iris got up from the mattress, pulling a goofily grinning Barry with her and led them outside her bedroom. The flickering lights illuminating downstairs and the booming cries of protests and cheers only proved that they weren't exactly missed, not that Barry cared anyways._

"_So how do you want to play this?" Barry inquired as Iris stared ahead, deep in thought."We could tell them I began feeling sick all of a sudden," he proposed, figuring that Iris wanted to be subtle about this._

_He instantly followed when Iris started walking determinedly towards the stairs. She opened her mouth to let him in on her plan of action when something tiny shot from the stairway and bumped into Barry's midsection with an 'oof'. _

_The young couple stared shell shocked as a small redheaded boy toppled down to the floor indignantly, rubbing his forehead. He couldn't have been more than six, scrawny limbs invisible underneath the overly large blue T- shirt and pants, a messy mop of red hair spiking out to every direction. But what truly made Barry's insides twist in the oddest of ways, was a pair of vibrant green eyes that looked up at them in awe._

"_Wally!" An unfamiliar woman called._

_oooOooo_

* * *

_oooOooo_

Barry was far too lost in his thoughts to hear the door open. He jumped as hands circled around his shoulders from behind, but calmed at the familiar scent of perfume.

"Is he alright?" Iris asked heartbroken, voice cracking at the sobs that threatened to overtake her.

"The doctors say he's stable and will make a full recovery," he murmured quietly, more to himself, still struggling with a crushing feel of guilt that weighted his soul.

Iris sighed in relief."Thank goodness," she sent her prayer, loosening her grip to glide over to Wally. She brushed some red hair away from the boy's closed eyes. "You're going to be okay, sweetie. You're safe now."

"It cut too close this time, Iris," Barry croaked. "Had I arrived a second later he'd be-"

"Don't say it!" Iris interrupted, begging. She swallowed a thick lump and drew back her shaking hand. "Please just… don't tell me how close we came on losing him forever, Barry," she said in a calmer tone.

A tense silence settled between them, both lost in their thoughts, their attention focusing on to their nephew's steady heartbeat.

"This is all my fault," Barry lamented gravely, too ashamed to meet Iris's gaze when it fell upon him. Startled, Iris frowned in confusion and opened her mouth to ask for a furthermore elaboration, softening afterwards in realization.

Her voice adopted a comforting tinge, very similar to what Hal had used a few hours back. "No, Barry, it's not."

"I should've known how my unexplained absence would affect him, "Barry exclaimed, shooting up from his seat. Iris watched passively as Barry began to phase back and forth in the middle of the hospital room, ranting useless 'should have's and 'if's that only seem to torture him more.

"… none of this would've happened if…" Barry carried on by himself, unaware the series of vibrations that made his body blur in Iris's eyes, his voice becoming muffled and adopting a high octave which his wife quickly recognized as speed-talk.

Careful not to awaken Wally or cause a fuss which would alert people outside the room, Iris made her way over to Barry and grabbed him by the shoulders firmly.

"Barry, you have to calm down now," she hissed her order. Barry's mind grasped at the situation at hand and Iris loosened her hold as the vibrating stopped and the hero's intense, suffering, blue eyes looked up at her.

Pulling her husband to a hug, she cupped the back of his neck while letting him rest his damp cheek to her shoulder.

"If you truly need someone to blame, you should start pointing fingers at me as well", Iris eventually said quietly. Barry backed away, eyeing her incredulously and disbelieving.

He opened his mouth, most likely to disagree, but Iris raised her hand in a silencing gesture. "I was present whenever you had a League mission or plainly went out on patrol. I was there, Barry, yet I still failed to satisfy his curiosity whenever he'd ask me why you were always late for dinner or why did you come home looking like you started professional wrestling," she joked lightly, no real humor behind it.

"The point is, I too did fail to protect him from the truth by misjudging to what lengths it would drive his frustration and how much it hurt him. Wally knew he was being lied to all along, Barry. He just didn't understand why," she concluded in a hushed whisper.

Barry's gaze travelled to Wally, who continued to sleep blissfully unaware of the conversation of which he was the topic.

"Then maybe it's time that he did."

oooOooo

* * *

oooOooo

"_Wally!"_

_Barry's trance was cut off by a scolding woman, who hastily run up the stairs to lift the disgruntled boy from the floor. She shared the same red shaded hair like the boy, though hers was a degree lighter. Barry came to the conclusion that he had just met the kid's mother._

"_Mary," Iris breathed in surprise. The woman mentioned looked up, her efforts on fixing her son's clothing and messy hair coming to an end, her eyes widening in wonder._

"_Iris," she gasped, mouth agape. Barry felt like an outsider in the strange reunion. Politely yet guardedly, remembering his previous encounter with Iris's family members, presented his hand._

"_Um, I'm Barry Allen. Iris's husband," he put in, breaking whatever was going on between the ladies in the room. Jumping at the intrusion, Mary turned to look at Barry, suddenly remembering the presence of an unknown figure._

"_Oh, yes, my name is Mary West and I'm Rudolph's wife," she introduced herself, pulling the little boy closer to her side, oddly keeping a shielding arm around him as if to protect him from something._

_For now, Barry brushed it off and turned to Iris confused at the mention of a new name. _

"_Rudolph is my older brother," Iris explained off-handedly, her gaze solely focusing on Wally, who clutched nervously to her mother's shirt. "Who's this?" she asked, her voice low but tender, probably so she wouldn't scare the boy._

_Nevertheless, Wally's eyes dropped immediately as his name left Iris's lips. Mary completely froze for a second._

"_This is Wally, he's my son." Barry's brain did the math faster than he broke the sound-barrier._

_If she was Rudolph's wife, it meant she was Iris's sister in-law which made the boy her nephew, and through her… it made the boy his nephew too…_

_He was an uncle. He was an uncle? Wait, HE WAS AN UNCLE! _

_Iris appeared equally shocked as he was."Your son?" Iris echoed. _

"_Mary, what on earth is taking you so long?"_

_Wally shrank at the rude yell and the stumping footsteps, awakening a foreign desire in Barry to sooth the child, while the females straightened considerably. The fifth arrival was a bigger sized middle- aged man with brown hair, an annoyed scowl decorating his features. Barry wanted to believe he had only imagined the seamy shiver that ran down his spine, caused by the man's aura. _

"_Rudolph," Iris acknowledged. "It's been awhile."_

"_Irene," Rudolph grunted in a same manner as the rest of his relatives. Patronizingly and coolly." I heard you got married."_

"_This is Barry," Iris confirmed in monotone. "But I can see I'm not the only one who has left out a few introductions," she added, her eyes falling to Wally's tiny form. _

"_Well Iris, you haven't exactly been in contact lately" the man drawled, pressuring his words meaningfully. _

"_Oh yes, the lack of communication was due my actions," Iris replied coldly before pulling herself together._

_Whatever had happened in the relationship between a brother and a sister was not something Iris wanted advertise. Or involve others in. She possessed the dignity of handling her business in a rational adult manner, controlling any childish emotions that would encourage behavior below her level of maturity. A trait she had by no means inherited from her flesh and blood._

_Mary stepped in, cautiously grasping Rudolph's sleeve. "Honey, why don't we go back downstairs. I'm sure your mother is almost done with her cooking," she urged anxiously, shying away as all eyes fell on her. Rudolph contemplated on her words, nodding, albeit grudgingly. _

"_Do enjoy your visit," Rudolph cynically muttered, motioning for his wife and son to go ahead of him. _

"_We will," Iris assured under her breath, but loud enough for Barry to hear. He was hardly taken back by the decision. _

_Wally gave them one last peek from behind his mother's hand._

_oooOooo_

* * *

_oooOooo_

"No, absolutely not!" Iris protested fiercely. Barry sighed. He had expected this sort of reaction.

Speaking calmly but not too patronizingly, Barry tried to make her see his point of view."Iris, babe-"

"Don't 'babe' me, Barry," The reporter exclaimed. "I can't believe you're actually considering this," she breathed out and rubbed her temple to ease the forming headache.

Barry remained patient and gave Iris a chance to catch her breath. Slowly and carefully he edged closer but kept his distance in case she'd feel the strong urge to slap him, or worse. "You said it yourself, this secret is only hurting him. Wally needs to know that he can trust us and that we trust him," he stated.

He knew he was playing unfair by using Iris's own words against her and twisting them like this, but it needed to be said.

"Believe me, I don't like this anymore than you do, but what if it's the only way to ensure this won't happen again? Wally's one of the smartest kids I know, he won't buy our excuses for long. If he won't hear the truth from us then we can be damn sure he'll dig out the truth on his own," Barry added.

"And what do you think will happen once he finds out?" Iris exploded unexpectedly."You think he'll just let it go? That he'll say 'okay, cool' and then everything's back to normal?"

"Of course not-!" Barry began heatedly.

"Good, because it won't!" His wife put in. Iris's glare waivered as she realized that their argument was heading dangerously out of control, both surprised and ashamed by her temper, but still refused to acknowledge her husband's opinion as the right one.

She looked at him intently, but this time desperation shining in her eyes, not rage."Wally's the top of his class. His grades are excellent, teachers automatically sign him up for every single science fair and he's got a shelve full of trophies and diplomas."

Barry's forehead wrinkled as hid eyebrows scrunched at the topic. He already knew all this and didn't understand where she was heading.

Iris but her lip, glancing at Wally. "He idolizes superheroes and what they stand for. I've seen some of his sketches that he fills his notebooks with. It's always about the Flash, or himself as… what did he call it… Kid Flash?"

Barry let out a fond snort at that. Wally had been a Flash fan since the day Barry had first taken him to the Flash museum on Flash Appreciation Day, and he knew for a fact that the obsession hadn't lessened over the years. When Wally was younger, and not in his I'm-almost-teen-so-I'm-too-cool-for-bedtime-stories phase, he had used to help the boy sleep after a nightmare about his father. Nothing could make a birthday more perfect than getting a Flash action figure and a pair of sneakers with lightning bolts that began to glow when you started walking. Wally was a member in every fan club that existed and had once actually stayed up all night arguing with some guy online who claimed that Green Lantern was a cooler hero than Flash. Iris was livid, but Barry was too proud to be mad. Don't get him wrong, everyone was allowed to have their own opinion and he was perfectly fine with whoever people chose to idolize over others, but knowing that his nephew had sacrificed a goodnight sleep on a school night just to tell someone how much he respected the red- clad hero made him smile for the rest of the day. It made him feel like Wally was proud of him, or at least the other him.

Yes, the kid loved the Flash and was good at school, dreamed of being a superhero, but what… _WAIT!_

Barry's eyes widened as he turned to look at Iris, flabbergasted.

"You don't think that he'd tried to…?" He wasn't even able to finish.

"You did, Barry, and you succeeded. That's going to be good enough for him," Iris countered quietly.

"Yes, but what I did was one out of million! The formula is extremely complex and there are hundreds of outcomes if even the smallest detail would go wrong. Surely he wouldn't be stupid enough to go messing with something like that!" Barry wasn't whether he was making a point or convincing himself that what he was about to do was right by excluding his nephew's stubbornness.

"I just need to explain it to him," Barry said, choosing the latter. "I'll get rid of notes myself if that's what it takes."

Iris measured his rationalization before sighing, admitting defeat. "Alright, but tell me something-" she said gently. "Just about a year ago you practically tried to strangle Batman with the rest of the League when he took Robin as a partner, and now the sudden change of hearts about you own nephew. You keep telling me that it's Wally's safety that you're concerned about, which I believe, but there's something else there, isn't it. What?"

With a heavy heart, Barry told Iris about the Flash logo that Wally had drawn to the floor while he was imprisoned in the basement and how Wally had cried in his arms, afraid that his uncle would be mad at him and hurt him.

"When Wally was kidnapped and tortured it wasn't me who he thought would come looking for him. It wasn't his uncle, it was the Flash," Barry whispered, not trusting his voice.

"And by unmasking yourself you hope to gain Flash's place in Wally's heart," Iris finished for him.

Barry's breath rasped in his throat. "I love him, Iris. He's the closest thing I have for a son. But how can I be the father that he needs and deserves if he doesn't even trust me."

Iris opened her mouth to deny this speculation, but she doubted there was anything that she could do or say to prove it false. This was something to be sorted out between Wally and Barry alone. For now, she could only wrap him in a hug.

"Oh, honey," Iris soothed, sharing his pain. "I know you can't see it but you're wrong if you think that Wally loves the Flash more than you. Flash is a role model, a person whose achievements and principles he admires, but you're his uncle, and he loves you. He'll show you."

oooOooo

* * *

oooOooo

**READ: The flashbacks do have a reason for existing and their significance will clear out in the last chapter, which I'm working on.**

**Sorry for the long wait you all, truly I am. Thank you again for your patience, I hope you enjoyed.**

**Please review and have a great summer !**


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